Univest Featured Athlete (Wk. 3-28-18)

Posted by editor

4/3/18 11:16pm

SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.

Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of March 28, 2018)

Tiera Lloyd gave a glimpse of her natural athletic ability when – as a freshman sprinter – she competed in the long jump for the first time at an invitational midway through the season. “I never did long jump a day in my life, and I was really scared, but I got first place at that meet,” she said. Lloyd’s track career changed directions immediately and, instead of sprints, the Harry S. Truman senior focused her energy on long and triple jumps. “We’re expecting some very good things out of her this year to build off of her success last year,” coach Mike Henderson said. Lloyd, however, is one of those special athletes whose value cannot be measured by the number of wins or points she accumulates. “She epitomizes what being a student-athlete is all about,” Henderson said. “I use her as an example for a lot of different things as far as being one of the hardest workers and just being a good role model. She’s very good at following directions, she’s a fast learner, she’s a positive influence, she’s very upbeat, and she’s always in a good mood. Those are some of the intangibles that you wish you could take out of her and just distribute them throughout the team. Tiera is going to be the one that’s going to hit me the hardest when she’s done at the end of the year.”

Henderson isn’t alone. Lloyd is such an integral part of the fabric of the Truman community that teachers and coaches would like to keep her around forever. “If I could have a Tiera every year – she’s such a positive thing,” Truman drama instructor Tracey Gatte said. “She does everything. I’m one of the senior class advisors, and she’s one of their class officers. She’s been a dancer in the musicals the past three years. She does volleyball, she does track, she works. It’s such a cliché, but she truly is an all around student. She really excels at everything she does. She also is one of the most well-spoken and poised females in my 19 years of teaching that I’ve had the pleasure of working with.” It’s a remarkable legacy for a student-athlete who almost didn’t attend Truman. Lloyd, it seems, was penciled in to follow in the footsteps of her older sister, Althea, who attended Conwell Egan and is now a student at Penn State University. “That’s where my parents wanted me to go, but I begged them to let me go to Truman, and I’m so happy that they did,” she said. “I’m leaving here in three months, so it’s going to be crazy, but I wear Truman Pride. Once a Tiger, always a Tiger, and I will forever believe that. I feel as though high school is really what you make of it. There are people who don’t really enjoy their time in high school because they really never get involved, and then there’s people who enjoy their time because they make good friends along the way by getting involved in different things. I feel that’s really what determines if you have a good high school experience or if you don’t. For me, I’ve always been involved.”

Gatte has been a dancer in the last three Truman musicals, including this spring’s production of Chicago. A captain for Truman’s upcoming Spirit Night, Lloyd, an excellent student, plans to major in criminal justice but is undecided on a college. “I want to work for the FBI,” she said. “I take Forensic Science, and the whole CSI type stuff – investigating and profiling, I’m really into it.” Gatte, for one, has no doubt that Lloyd will succeed. “I’m so excited to see what she does in the future because I think it’s going to be a very positive thing,” the Truman drama instructor said.

Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of March 28, 2018)

The moment Ryan Arcidiacono’s heads-up assist won Villanova a national championship in 2016, his younger brother, Chris, seemed destined to live in a Pennsylvania-sized shadow rivaled perhaps only by Punxsutawney Phil. Not only did the elder Arcidiacono become a legend by winning college basketball’s most coveted trophy, but he also took home the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player honor before taking his talents to the NBA. Chris was used to following in his older brother’s footsteps, serving as the water boy for the Neshaminy basketball program while Ryan was busy becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. Chris, six years Ryan’s junior and an accomplished hoops player in his own right, heard it from opposing student sections every time Neshaminy went on the road that he would never be the ball player his brother was. In the end, Chris got the last laugh, quieting rowdy crowds on a nightly basis with his ability to score at will. He took Neshaminy to places Ryan never saw, and by the end of this past season, Chris posted the program’s highest single-game output in school history, dropping an eye-popping 51 points in a double overtime state playoff win over Lower Merion.

Those jeering student sections were in essence right about one thing: Chris Arcidiacono is not his brother. Biologically, yes, that is the case, but Chris is also so much more than that, having done what once seemed improbable – he carved his own unique basketball legacy in the shadow of one of the most legendary local college players to ever lace up a pair of high-tops. And make no mistake about it: Chris never hid from the spotlight; in fact, he relished every single minute of proving his doubters wrong. “Ry had superstar status early on while for Chris it came later,” coach Mark Tingle said. “We knew Chris had it in him, it was just a matter of putting in the work in the offseason, which he did. He’s such a smart, confident, tough, competitive kid.”

Chris inherited a lot of those qualities from his older brother as well as his attitude and overall physical resemblance. There are also similarities in the two’s games, and Chris even wears Ryan’s No. 15 jersey, so even though opposing fanbases like to tease him, there are certainly worse things than being known as Ryan Arcidiacono’s brother. “Us two, we’re not the most athletic kids, so we have to work a lot harder,” Chris said. “The thing I’ve taken from Ryan the most is to be the toughest guy on the court.”

Chris’s meteoric rise as a player the last two seasons has caught the eye of Division I college programs. “The sky is the limit for Chris,” Tingle said. “Wherever he goes, he’s going to make an impact. He can shoot, and his IQ is off the charts. His competitiveness is like his brother’s in that they refuse to lose. That’s something you can’t teach.” Wherever Chris ends up, he knows he’s got one of his biggest fans one phone call away. “He knows he can ask me anything anytime,” Ryan said. “I put my two cents in here and there because I went through it, so I’ll tell him what I think is the best chance for him to be successful. In the end, it’s his decision. Wherever he goes, that school is getting a high character, smart, hard working kid who has a fire and desire to win games.